The latest figures and patenting trends of EPO are out! 2023-04-18
The European Patent Office (EPO) received 193 460 applications in 2022, which is a 2.5% increase, and the largest number of European patent applications filed with the EPO. The United States (48 088), Germany (24 684), Japan (21 576), China (19 041), France (10 900), Korea (10 367) and Switzerland (9 008) have the most European patent applications filed with the EPO.
The top applicants in 2022 were QUALCOMM (2 155), HUAWEI (2 082), ERICSSON (1 298) SAMSUNG (727), ZTE CORP (661), NOKIA (620), OPPO6 (549), LG (433), NTT DOCOMO (421) and APPLE (363). Huawei has been the leading patent applicant at the EPO since 2017, meaning a non-European company files the most patent applications at the European Patent Office. Even more interestingly, this is the first year that the share of applications from companies in the EPO's 39 member states fell below 44%, however, four of the top ten companies are European. See the top 25 most prolific applicants applicants at the EPO here.
The top ten fields represented almost 57% of the total number of European applications filed. The top technology field was digital communication - the same as in previous years. Medical technology was second, but then computer technology came third. Hence we can see that innovation across a wide range of electrical and ICT fields was very strong again this year.
The sustainability trends are also reflected in the EPO filings. It was the technology field of “Electrical machinery, apparatus & energy” that had the greatest increase in filings at the EPO in 2022. But this growth was principally driven by the large increase in the battery patent filings. There are also interesting insights from the EPO 2022 filings in terms of circular innovation. For example, under the umbrella of the development of closed-loop systems for the reuse and recycling of waste batteries, LG filed almost three times more patent applications than Signify (ex lighting division of Philips) in second place.
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The top applicants in 2022 were QUALCOMM (2 155), HUAWEI (2 082), ERICSSON (1 298) SAMSUNG (727), ZTE CORP (661), NOKIA (620), OPPO6 (549), LG (433), NTT DOCOMO (421) and APPLE (363). Huawei has been the leading patent applicant at the EPO since 2017, meaning a non-European company files the most patent applications at the European Patent Office. Even more interestingly, this is the first year that the share of applications from companies in the EPO's 39 member states fell below 44%, however, four of the top ten companies are European. See the top 25 most prolific applicants applicants at the EPO here.
The top ten fields represented almost 57% of the total number of European applications filed. The top technology field was digital communication - the same as in previous years. Medical technology was second, but then computer technology came third. Hence we can see that innovation across a wide range of electrical and ICT fields was very strong again this year.
The sustainability trends are also reflected in the EPO filings. It was the technology field of “Electrical machinery, apparatus & energy” that had the greatest increase in filings at the EPO in 2022. But this growth was principally driven by the large increase in the battery patent filings. There are also interesting insights from the EPO 2022 filings in terms of circular innovation. For example, under the umbrella of the development of closed-loop systems for the reuse and recycling of waste batteries, LG filed almost three times more patent applications than Signify (ex lighting division of Philips) in second place.